To Asa Gray 19 October [1860]1
Down Bromley Kent [Eastbourne]
Oct. 19th
My dear Gray
Your pleasant letter of Oct. 1st has been forwarded to me to sea-side, & I have been meditating on it.—2 First let me say how pleased I am to hear that Prof. Henry goes so far with me.—3 When I sent the Aug. Atlantic to Annals,4 I said that I myself took the responsibility of adding your name as author; so that I do not think it will be made to appear as if from you.—5 Nor do I at all know whether it will be therein printed; but the Editor is not very courteous & I do [not] much like writing to him again—6 I enclosed envelope, begging for it to be returned if not used; & I have not received it. But this does not convince me that it will appear; but it is either now rejected or printed, so much time has elapsed, so no time for 2 or 3 corrections. But I have been thinking of a larger scheme, viz to get the whole three published with (as you permit) your name. But unfortunately I am the worst person in world, from mixing so little with people, to judge; & Hooker is away & Huxley in distress.7 But I intend writing to day to Lyell, who admires your reviews as much as I do (especially I think No 3) & has written me several letters chiefly about them.8 Now he is a real good judge in all publishing affairs & if he thinks there is any chance of even a small sale, I will consult Murray.9 I shall say to Murray that as Dr. Bree has just published a Book against the Origin10 & two other Brochures have appeared (all poor), a pamphlet on our side (to a certain extent) might sell. It would not be worth while to lose money, not for the money sake, but on account of small circulation & consequently not much good being done. It would be indispensable to have your name & title on Title-page; & very adviseable to have some remark on Title, showing its bearing on Natural Theology or Design.— I daresay it is 10 to 1 against my succeeding; but, as it will cost very little trouble, send me a Title, (subject to Murray’s approval). I fear there is no chance of your having time to add some criticisms on Hopkins.—11 I will let you know as soon as I can see my way. I must wait till I get home & see how long all the Articles are together. They seem to me much too good to be almost lost in a Periodical.— Murray says the Origin goes on selling well.—
I had a letter a week ago from Thwaites of Ceylon:12 he was at first much opposed to me. he now says “I find that the more familiar one becomes to your views in connexion with the various phenomena of nature, the more they commend themselves to my mind.”— Even Harvey, I find, is not nearly so savage against me as he was when he published his foolish pamphlet.13 Such cases give me much confidence that Natural Selection is not very far from truth.—
Believe me | My dear Gray | Ever yours | C. Darwin
Perhaps it would be worth while for you to write & send me Title, & say whether you would add any criticisms; as in that case I would delay publication, if it is ever to take place.—
Footnotes
Bibliography
Bree, Charles Robert. 1860. Species not transmutable, nor the result of secondary causes. Being a critical examination of Mr Darwin’s work entitled ‘Origin and variation of species’. London: Groombridge & Sons. Edinburgh: Maclachlan & Stewart.
Harvey, William Henry. 1860. An inquiry into the probable origin of the human animal, on the principles of Mr Darwin’s theory of natural selection, and in opposition to the Lamarckian notion of a monkey parentage. Dublin: privately printed.
Hopkins, William. 1860. Physical theories of the phenomena of life. Fraser’s Magazine 61: 739–52; 62: 74–90.
Origin: On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1859.
Summary
Is thinking of publishing AG’s three-part Origin review [from Atlantic Monthly] in England.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-2955
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Asa Gray
- Sent from
- Eastbourne Down letterhead
- Source of text
- Gray Herbarium of Harvard University (32)
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 2955,” accessed on 23 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-2955.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 8